Sunday, July 8, 2012

Keeping
mum over what was discussed in a supposedly “full” Cabinet meeting
owing to security reasons as the topic of discussion supposed to have
been focused on the decisions that were made by Noynoy on the China
sovereignty moves over the so-called disputed islands to which the
Philippines also claims sovereignty, was a bit too strange.

It was
claimed by Noynoy’s spokesman Edwin Lacierda, and too dramatically at
that, that he could not disclose anything said in an executive session,
which the “full” Cabinet meeting was turned into, under pain of
imprisonment. And who will charge him, Noynoy? Lacierda really shouldn’t
be giving the nation too much bull.

By remaining much too silent and
using that silly executive session and security issues as a reason for
not disclosing even the topics of the session, merely fueled large scale
speculations.

In any case, what was strange about it is the fact if
security matters were really involved and one moreover that involves
moves against China over the issue of the disputed islands, there
certainly was no need for the entire Cabinet to be present in that
meeting, since many of these Cabinet department heads certainly don’t
have to be involved in such security matters, since they are far removed
from such situations..... MORE

As the House of Representatives starts its 16th congressional session
later this July, apprehensions are rife that it will push for the
complete privatization of public hospitals in the country, leaving poor
patients at the mercy of corporate interests.

Bayan Muna Rep. Teddy Casiño is appealing to his colleagues to
withdraw support to bills that aim to corporatize the country’s public
hospitals. He said lawmakers should realize that House Bill 6069 or
“An Act Creating National Government Hospital Corporations,” has dire,
if not life-threatening implications for the country’s poorest
citizens. He said hospital corporatization and the government’s
Public-Private Partnership scheme will result to higher hospital fees.

“This bill and its counterpart measure Senate Bill 3130 or the
National Government Hospital Corporate Restructuring Act, will make
healthcare services inaccessible for poor families all over the
country,” he said.

House Bill 6069 is authored by Bacolod City Rep. Anthony Golez while Sen. Franklin Drilon is behind SB 3130.

Casiño is actively campaigning against public health privatization
saying that privatizing government hospitals will only worsen the
already considerable problems the hospitals are already facing. He said
many public hospitals are already charging exorbitant fees for their
services.

He said the corporatized Philippine Heart Center (PHC) and the
National Kidney and Transplant Institute (NKTI) already charge as much
as P415 ($9.65) to P430 ($10.23) for a chest x-ray while the Jose
Reyes Medical Center and the Rizal Medical Center, both of which are
among the 26 hospitals being targeted for corporatization charge only
P290 ($6.90) to P310 ($7.38) for the same service..... MORE

The
alliance between the Liberal Party (LP) and the Nacionalista Party (NP)
leaves a bad taste in the mouth, knowing that Noynoy and rival Manuel
Villar in the 2010 presidential campaign period threw at each other all
the dirt and muck possible.

Villar, through the instigation of now
some of the staunchest allies of Noynoy, faced an ethics investigation
in the Senate over the C-5 extension controversy and he was accused of
inserting a double entry in the budget for the project that gave him
both kickbacks and windfall profits from the increased valuation of his
properties found around the government-paid development.

Several
other more bitter accusations were thrown by the LP, specifically
against Villar, to the extent of even calling him Villarroyo for
supposedly being the secret candidate of Gloria in the 2010 elections.
Noynoy, then a senator, was part of that band of accusers against
Villar..... MORE

The latest meeting of the Codex Alimentarius Commission in Rome has
set new limits on additives to foodstuffs and has set standards for the
improved safety of a number of items. Almost half a century after it is
set up, why is it still necessary, is what we consume in fact safe and
is the list of ingredients complete on food labels?

The fact that the Codex Alimentarius Commission is still meeting 49
years after it was set up, and is still setting standards on food
safety, fixing limits on toxins that can be used gives rise to the
notion that however much effort its scientists are making, we are being
slowly poisoned with safe limits of toxins - in the short-term. The
latest regulations by this organism, run by the UNO's World Health
Organization and the Food and Agriculture Organization, include the
setting of limits for maximum quantities of melamine in liquid milk
formula for babies. High concentrations of melamine can be lethal and
have already caused death and illness in infants. So why is it used at
all?

In 2010, this same Commission stated that a maximum level of one
milligram per kilogramme was safe in milk and allowed 2.5 mg/kg in other
foods and in animal feed. Now the limit for infant milk has been
reduced to 0.15 mg/kg..... MORE

The deadline set by the UK's highest court for Julian Assange's
extradition to Sweden runs out on Saturday. The whistleblower says he
won't leave the safety of the Ecuadorian embassy in London until a
decision on his asylum request is made.

­Julian Assange has spent the last two and a half weeks in the
Ecuadorian embassy with London police standing guard at every exit
should he attempt to leave.

On June 19 he entered the
embassy and filed a request for asylum. Ecuador’s UK ambassador is
personally working on the matter and even had to return home for
consultations. An answer was expected to be forthcoming, but as of yet
there has been none..... MORESource: RT.com

There
is so much push in talks of Bam Aquino running for senator. According
to the Chinese speaking spokesman in Malacañang, Bam should be senator
because he is certainly fit for the job, has a good educational
background and is a good civic leader at that. Budget Secretary Abad,
not to be outdone said, Bam is intelligent, entrepreneurial and had good
public exposure. Some Liberal Party members cited Bam as being as
articulate as Ninoy Aquino. He also looks like Ninoy and has gained many
achievements despite his young age as Ninoy had.

Speaking of Ninoy, I
would certainly acknowledge that he should have been one of the best
presidents our country should have had. He was articulate, intelligent
and brave. He sacrificed his life for the Filipino people such that we
regained the freedom from the dictatorship. And Ninoy if he is today our
President, I’m sure he would certainly not sacrifice the lives of the
Filipinos by going to war against a very strong and powerful country for
the simple reason of proving his machismo. If indeed Bam Aquino has the
makings of Ninoy in contrast with his son, why wait for Bam to become
senator, why not make him President now? All we need to do is ask
President BS Aquino to lend Bam his position for a few months and who
knows Bam might do it better, after all, a lot of people are saying he
has the makings of Ninoy Aquino..... MORE

Gabriela aims to discourage Filipinos “from the bad practice of
sharing sleazy videos” by spreading the counter-message of the “Manila
Scandal Part 2.” It hopes to “mobilize the public to use the internet
in solving one of the scourges of electronic harassment, bullying and
violence against women” by posting the video to their FB account or
website and through Twitter by using the #manilascandal2 hashtag.

DAVAO CITY — A progressive lawmaker urged Facebook (FB) users to end
electronic violence against women (e-VAW) by adding “-Scandal” to their
last name and to change their cover photos. The move was part of the
women’s group Gabriela’s “Bury the Past” campaign.

“This will help bury real scandal videos in the results of search
engines,” Gabriela Women’s Party (GWP) Representative Luz Ilagan posted
in her FB timeline.

Sex scandal videos have proliferated online, attaching stigma to
women victims. One case in point is the video involving showbiz
personalities Hayden Kho and Katrina Halili.

If the campaign against e-VAW — a new form of violence through the
electronic medium, particularly the spread of sex scandal videos —
musters enough support, seamy videos will be buried as search engines
like Google and Yahoo are disrupted.

On Saturday in Manila, Gabriela launched its interactive online
campaign action in commemoration of the e-VAW awareness week. Through
the video it produced entitled, “Manila Scandal Part 2,” the women’s
group hopes to share the “victim’s personal tragedy” and to show the
“personal as well as social costs to individual women as well as women
collectively.”
Gabriela collaborated with the award-winning advertising agency
DM9JaymeSyf to produce an output “exactly like a sequel to a sex scandal
video,” hoping to get the public’s attention especially those who like
to watch sex scandal videos.

“What our video actually shows is the story of a woman after her sex
scandal video spread. How she was shamed, expelled, disowned and how she
contemplated suicide,” the Gabriela-Philippines National Secretariat
said in its FB page.

It added, “If we get enough of our target audience to watch this, and
let them see the real implications of their actions, it can definitely
lessen the spread of sex scandal videos.”

Gabriela aims to discourage Filipinos “from the bad practice of
sharing sleazy videos” by spreading the counter-message of the “Manila
Scandal Part 2.” It hopes to “mobilize the public to use the internet
in solving one of the scourges of electronic harassment, bullying and
violence against women” by posting the video to their FB account or
website and through Twitter by using the #manilascandal2 hashtag.

“All forms of violence against women should be stopped from domestic,
street, intimate relations, electronic and the State,” Mae Fe Templa,
program head of Assumption College of Davao’s Social Work Department.
Templa said Gabriela’s campaign is effective because “it is a new
form of protest. It uses the material but with a twist to bring it
closer to what really happened to women when their identities are
exposed online for further humiliation and degradation. When their
families disown them, they tend to end their lives.”

First District Councilor Leah Librado-Yap said she believes it’s
timely to include the internet in this campaign because it has become “a
common venue for women all across the globe to be abused in every
imaginable manner.”

“Scandals involving women are often posted, viewed and spread over
the internet. To stop the proliferation of electronic violence that
targets women should be our call. This is in line with our campaign to
put a halt to women exploitation,” Librado-Yap said. (davaotoday.com by Marilou Aguirre-Tuburan).

PERSONALLY VISITS CEBU TO TAKE IN DURANO CLANThe
piracy being practiced by the ruling Liberal Party (LP) extended even
to parties and politicians identified with detained former President
Gloria Arroyo after President Aquino personally went to Cebu yesterday
to administer the oathtaking of family members of a political clan known
as extremely close to Aquino’s predecessor.

Aquino sworn in as new
LP members Danao Vice Mayor Nito Durano and the rest of the local Bakud
political party. However, Aquino wasn’t able to get the entire Durano
clan as Cebu’s original LP leader and former Danao City Mayor Jesus
“Don” Durano resigned apparently feeling bad after he wasn’t consulted
about the recruitment and acceptance of the new party members.

Former
President Joseph Estrada had chided the Liberal Party in forming a new
coalition which was launched by “pirating” senatorial candidates from
the United Nationalist Alliance (UNA) which he heads along with Vice
President Jejomar Binay.

Estrada in describing the snatching of strong political bets said the move “shows the weakness of the LP.”“That shows they cannot complete their lineup,” Estrada had said..... MORE

Malacañang
bared President Aquino signed and would release tomorrow the
Executive Order (EO) defining the adminis-tration’s policy on the
mining industry.

According to presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda,
Aquino signed the mining EO and it is already with Executive Secretary
Paquito Ochoa.

Ochoa will release it tomorrow afternoon alongside with Environment Secretary Ramon Paje who was designated

by the President to do a presentation of its salient features.

“Yes it has been signed. It is a… I have no copy of the signed EO. It will be released next week,” says Lacierda.

He
said the executive order will be released on tomorrow afternoon by
Ochoa simultaneous with Sec. Paje’s presentation to eliminate doubt on
the much awaited EO defining the Aquino administration’s thrust towards a
sector that has significantly contributed revenues in the form of taxes
to the government.

“Let me qualify why ES Ochoa will have it
released alongside with Secretary Paje’s presentation. The decision is
so that there would no longer be doubt on the EO that has long kept both
the mining industry and the environmentalists waiting. So we will
release the EO, at the same time, we will be briefing Secretary Paje the
details of the EO. And in fact, I can tell you that the Malacanang
Press Corps will be the audience by which, for which Secretary Paje will
be briefing the EO. He will be explaining the EO,” Lacierda said..... MORE

Leaders
of the Philippines’ largest Muslim rebel group have criticized the slow
pace of peace talks with the government, warning that some members were
growing dissatisfied.

The comments came as thousands attended a Moro
Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) gathering at their camp in the troubled
southern island of Mindanao, including heavily armed fighters and
government peace negotiators.

MILF chairman Murad Ebrahim said despite the slow pace of talks his group remained committed to the negotiations.

“It
is sad... that even though the MILF has drastically scaled down its
position, negotiations with the government are moving at a snail’s
pace,” Murad told his supporters. “The Philippine government is not too
inclined to solve the armed conflict but (wants) to manage the armed
conflict to a level where it can... rule the (Muslim people) and exploit
the resources of (their) homeland.”.... MORE

Sen.
Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III is reportedly running for senator not as
an independent, but under the administration party with fellow
senatorial aspirant Joel Villanueva as conduit.

Pimentel, however,
was not inclined to turn his back on the PDP-Laban, which his father
co-founded before 1986, but simply to avoid a person whom he said had
taken away four years of his first term as senator.

Apparently
referring to former Sen. Juan Miguel Zubiri, Pimentel went on to say he
would not want to be in the same Senate ticket with the very politician
who benefited from the 2007 election fraud, even as he expressed a
desire to run side by side with Technical Education and Skills
Development Administration (Tesda) chief Joel Villanueva.

Pimentel in
a statement hinted on the need for a younger Senate, adding that fresh
faces like him and Villanueva could offer so much idea apt for the
modern times. He however would not discount the capability of the Senate
elders who he said had taught him how to be a good statesman..... MORE

Rep.
Mark Sambar yesterday said the Philippine Basketball Association’s
decision to penalize PBA cager Don Allado has failed to exculpate the
professional basketball league from the game fixing controversy, adding
that it has instead made it imperative for the House of Representatives
to conduct a congressional inquiry to ferret out the truth about the
scandal.

Sambar said he would ask the House committees on youth and
sports development and on games and amusement to immediately contact the
Barako Bull center to forewarn him of his responsibility to appear for
the investigation and be forthright about his allegations.

Citing
previous reports of game fixing in college and professional basketball
tournaments, Sambar said the two House panels will also be tasked to
determine the involvement of gambling syndicates.

At the same time,
the administration lawmaker urged PBA officials to stay away from Allado
while the legislative inquiry is going on..... MORE